September 11th, 2015 - Strange Hop Highways

Good afternoon and hails beer and metal fans!  Your pal the Meista here today with "Strange Highways" from Dio and a Hop Highway India Pale Ale from Belching Beaver Brewery!

Album Info:

• Artist: Dio
• Title: "Strange Highways"
• Recorded: 1993 at Rumbo Recorders, Los Angeles, California
• Release date: January 26th, 1994 (6th studio album by Dio)
• Record company: Reprise Records
• Production: Mike Fraser
• Album cover art: Wil Rees
• Personnel: Vinny Appice (drums), Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Tracy Grijalva aka Tracy G (guitars), and Jeff Pilson (bass)
• Musical style: Heavy metal, doom metal, speed metal
• Sound: One of Dio's heaviest, most guitar-focused, and most Black Sabbath-esque albums, "Strange Highways" has more doom and aggression than the majority of Dio's works.  Pilson and Appice bring down Thor's hammer Mjölnir throughout!  Tracy G shreds the hell out of it (just listen to that fade-out on "Hollywood Black"!)!  And RJD is (as always) a vocal fireworks show!
• Major themes: Along with being a very heavy album musically, "Strange Highways" is a more straight-ahead metal album for Dio in terms of lyrical content.  Instead of the usual sword and sorcery imagery from earlier (and later) albums, "Strange Highways" focuses on themes of evil, aggression, death, pain, bitterness, and insanity.
• Tracks: 

1. "Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost"
2. "Firehead"
3. "Strange Highways"
4. "Hollywood Black"
5. "Evilution"
6. "Pain"
7. "One Foot In The Grave"
8. "Give Her The Gun"
9. "Blood From A Stone"
10. "Here's To You"
11. "Bring Down The Rain"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Belching Beaver Brewery (Vista, California)
• Website: http://www.belchingbeaver.com/
• Brew: Hop Highway India Pale Ale
• Style: American India Pale Ale (IPA)
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 7.3%
• IBUs: 65
• Ingredients: Galaxy, Falconer’s Flight, Southern Cross and Nelson hops
• Pour: Candied pear-gold with a creamy, thick white head with great sustain and displays intricate, sticky lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a bold and fruity bouquet with lots of passion fruit, pink grapefruit, herbs, lemongrass, and wild flowers.
• Taste: Punchy, fruity, and hoppy, the  Hop Highway India Pale Ale is a delicious, hop forward IPA with lots of passion fruit, pineapple, mango, grapefruit, tangerine, and caramel notes along with herbal tea and pine.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with medium carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp, slightly sticky, and refreshing with a citrusy and slightly bitter dry finish.

Overall pairing: What I like about the pairing of the Hop Highway India Pale Ale with Dio's "Strange Highways" is the fact that both the album and brew are deliciously entertaining with lots of complexity and depth, but at the same time pack a punch with some tasty bitterness!

Cheers!! RIP RJD!!!